The Apple WWDC 2023 Keynote Live Blog (Starts at 10am PT/17:00 UTC)

The Apple WWDC 2023 Keynote Live Blog (Starts at 10am PT/17:00 UTC)

12:55PM EDT - As we round the corner after Computex and transition into June, it's time once more for Apple's annual World Wide Developers Conference. As always, Apple kicks off WWDC with their big keynote event, which though aimed first and foremost at developers, is also used as a venue to announce new products and ecosystem strategies. The keynote starts at 10am Pacific (17:00 UTC) today, and AnandTech will be offering live blog coverage of Apple's event.

12:55PM EDT - With WWDC going virtual once again this year, we're expecting another rapid-fire, two-hour run through of Apple's ecosystem. WWDC keynotes have historically covered everything from macOS and iOS to individual Apple applications and more. On the hardware side of matters, in previous years we've seen things like the official announcement Apple's M2 SoC; and as of 2023, we're still missing the legendary Mac Pro from the Apple Silicon lineup. All the while, the rumor mill intensely churns with the idea of an Apple augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) headset. And of course, there's always the chance of the periodic product refresh.

12:56PM EDT - The Apple Store, as is usually is the case, is down right now

12:57PM EDT - So if you're looking to order any Apple products in the middle of the WWDC keynote, you'll be out of luck

01:00PM EDT - Reading through the tea leaves this year, it's not sounding like this year will be as big of a year for Mac hardware as last year, which is an admittedly hard act to follow since we got the M2 SoC that year

01:00PM EDT - But for consumers, any new/updated Macs will be a big deal in and of itself

01:00PM EDT - And here we go

01:02PM EDT - And here's Tim Cook, from a recording in the yards of Apple Park

01:02PM EDT - This is the 15th anniversary of the iOS App Store

01:03PM EDT - "Today we're going to make some of our biggest announcements ever at WWDC"

01:03PM EDT - "Introducing some exciting new products"

01:04PM EDT - And we're going right to the Mac to start things off

01:04PM EDT - Recapping Apple Silicon and the performance/design benefits of it

01:05PM EDT - Especially the MacBook Air

01:05PM EDT - Rolling the announcement video for a new Mac

01:05PM EDT - Introducing the 15-inch MacBook Air

01:05PM EDT - "The world's best 15-inch laptop"

01:06PM EDT - 11.5mm thick, "world's thinnest 15-inch laptop"

01:06PM EDT - 2 TB4 ports + MagSafe, so the same as the 13-inch

01:06PM EDT - 15.3-inch liquid retina screen, 500 nits brightness and 10-bit color

01:07PM EDT - Powered by the M2 chip

01:07PM EDT - This sounds like it's almost entirely just an enlarged MBA 13

01:07PM EDT - Apple claims 2x the perf of a i7 Core-based laptop

01:07PM EDT - And 50% more battery life

01:08PM EDT - And this is fanless, just like the MBA13

01:08PM EDT - 3.3 pounds

01:09PM EDT - Pricing starts at $1299, ordering starts today for availability next week

01:09PM EDT - The MBA13 is getting a $100 cut to $1099

01:09PM EDT - And that's the 15-inch MacBook Air

01:09PM EDT - Now on to Pro products. Recapping the recent Pro laptops

01:09PM EDT - Mac Studio update time

01:10PM EDT - The Mac Studio is getting an update with the M2 Max SoC

01:11PM EDT - And because it's the Studio, introducing the M2 Ultra SoC

01:11PM EDT - Just like the M1, M2 connects two Max SoCs together using the UltraFusion interface

01:11PM EDT - 76 GPU cores in total

01:12PM EDT - M2 Ultra supports 192GB of unified RAM, 64GB more than the M1 Ultra

01:12PM EDT - AI! (Take a shot)

01:13PM EDT - Apple is touting neural network training as one of the use cases for the chip and its 192GB of memory

01:13PM EDT - Mac Studio has "higher bandwidth" HDMI

01:13PM EDT - Up to six Pro Displays off an M2 Ultra

01:14PM EDT - But what about people that need PCIe expansion?!

01:14PM EDT - And there it is, the Apple Silicon Mac Pro

01:14PM EDT - M2 Ultra-based

01:14PM EDT - 3x faster than the old Intel Mac Pro

01:15PM EDT - Same 192GB memory limit as the M2U Mac Studio

01:15PM EDT - And touting the advantage of the M2 Ultra over the Afterburner video processing card used in the Intel Mac Pro

01:15PM EDT - 8 Thunderbolt 4 ports

01:16PM EDT - 6 PCIe 4.0 expansion slots

01:16PM EDT - Physically x16, from the looks of it, but probably not all electrically x16

01:16PM EDT - Tower and Rackmount configurations

01:17PM EDT - Mac Pro starts at $6999. Orders start today, available next week

01:17PM EDT - And this completes the transition to Apple Silicon and the Arm ISA. Apple no longer has any leading systems using Intel x86 processors

01:18PM EDT - That took a bit longer than the two years Apple previously talked about, but they got here

01:18PM EDT - The lack of memory expanability with the Mac Pro may prove a wedge issue, but we'll see how things go

01:18PM EDT - Now on to software (this is a dev conference, after all), starting with iOS

01:19PM EDT - Previewing iOS 17

01:19PM EDT - The Phone app is getting updated

01:19PM EDT - Personalized contact posters

01:20PM EDT - Customize the image, font, and color

01:20PM EDT - This info is also available via CallKit

01:20PM EDT - New feature: Live Voicemail

01:20PM EDT - Live transcription of your voicemail as it's being left/recorded, so that you can better screen phone calls

01:21PM EDT - Transcriptions are handled on-device for privacy reasons

01:21PM EDT - And now you can leave recorded messages with Facetime

01:21PM EDT - Now on to the Messages app

01:22PM EDT - Search filters for more precise searching

01:22PM EDT - Easier inline replies by swipping on a chat bubble

01:22PM EDT - New feature: check-in

01:23PM EDT - Let a contact know you've arrived home safely

01:23PM EDT - Or if you've not reached your destination, if that happens to be the case

01:24PM EDT - And some Sticker updates. All emoji available as stickers

01:26PM EDT - New AirDrop functionality

01:26PM EDT - New feature: Name Drop

01:26PM EDT - Bring two phones close together to exchange contact information

01:26PM EDT - Can also swap with an Apple Watch

01:27PM EDT - You can also use this to quickly setup AirDrop between two devices to transfer content and other activities

01:28PM EDT - Autocorrect feature updates

01:28PM EDT - Apple has continued to advance the machine learning model for autocorrect

01:28PM EDT - And the latest generation is based on transformer models (the same underlying tech used in GPT and the like)

01:29PM EDT - "Just want to type a ducking word"

01:30PM EDT - (The stream dropped out on my end. That's the first for an Apple event stream)

01:30PM EDT - New app for iOS: Journal

01:30PM EDT - It's a journaling application

01:32PM EDT - New feature: Standby

01:33PM EDT - Turn your iPhone into a nightstand clock

01:33PM EDT - (It just doesn't have the charm of a seven segment display)

01:34PM EDT - Along with the time, it can show calendar reminders, timers, and other information

01:34PM EDT - And it can remember the user's view preferences for each location it's used with MagSafe

01:35PM EDT - Siri is apparently getting rid of the "Hey" keyword?

01:35PM EDT - So invoking Siri is now just "Siri"

01:35PM EDT - Now on to iPadOS

01:36PM EDT - New features, starting with widgets and the lock screen

01:37PM EDT - The customized lock screen is coming to iPadOS

01:38PM EDT - Optimized popular wallpapers (like astronomy) for the larger screen

01:39PM EDT - Live activities on the lock screen as well

01:39PM EDT - iPadOS is getting the Health app as well

01:40PM EDT - And it's been redesigned to make good use of the larger iPad screen

01:41PM EDT - The Notes app is getting updated as well, with improved PDF handling

01:42PM EDT - PDF annotation within Notes when using an Apple Pencil

01:43PM EDT - Also on Apple's list: updates to Stage Manager, and external camera support as part of an external display

01:43PM EDT - And that's iPadOS 17

01:44PM EDT - Now in to macOS

01:45PM EDT - macOS Sonoma

01:45PM EDT - A lot of those previously-announced iOS/iPadOS features are also coming to macOS

01:45PM EDT - (Barring any surprises, this should be macOS 14)

01:45PM EDT - More personalization through widgets

01:46PM EDT - Widgets can go on the desktop; they're no longer limited to the notification center

01:47PM EDT - (This seems like reinventing the wheel a bit. Didn't we have a lot of this with Dashboard?)

01:47PM EDT - Moving widgets from the iPhone to the Mac

01:48PM EDT - Now on to Mac Gaming

01:48PM EDT - Apple Silicon brings a lot more GPU performance, which is what Apple has always wanted

01:49PM EDT - Introducing Game Mode

01:49PM EDT - Games get the highest priority on the CPU and GPU; pushes background tasks farther into the background

01:49PM EDT - Focus on reducing input latency and BT audio latency

01:49PM EDT - According to Apple, they're doubling the BT sampling rate in game mode

01:50PM EDT - (A bit power hungry, but when you're going to be making heavy use of the CPU/GPU anyhow...)

01:50PM EDT - Apple is also improving their tools for porting games from other platforms to the Mac

01:50PM EDT - And now Apple has Hideo Kojima sharing a few words

01:51PM EDT - Death Stranding Director's Cut is coming to the Mac later this year

01:51PM EDT - (This was originally released in 2019)

01:51PM EDT - Implements Metal Upscaling, among other features

01:52PM EDT - And his studio is actively working to bring future titles to the platform

01:52PM EDT - Now shifting gears to productivity

01:52PM EDT - Video conferencing updates

01:52PM EDT - Presenter Overlay

01:53PM EDT - Get your face on top of your slides

01:54PM EDT - Including a faux-presentation mode where your slide deck is behind you. The presenter's body is cut out and placed on top. It actually looks rather neat

01:54PM EDT - Now on to Safari

01:54PM EDT - Adding even more features to WebKit

01:54PM EDT - Private browsing mode is being updated to block trackers and remove URL trackers

01:55PM EDT - Passwords and passkeys can be shared among a group using iCloud Keychain (E2E encrypted)

01:55PM EDT - Multiple browser profiles (think Firefox account containers)

01:56PM EDT - So different tabs can belong to different profiles, rather than sharing a single profile and its cookies/logins

01:56PM EDT - Web apps. They can be created from any website

01:57PM EDT - And that's macOS Sonoma

01:57PM EDT - Now on to Audio & Home

01:57PM EDT - Starting with what's new for AirPods

01:58PM EDT - New feature: adaptive audio

01:58PM EDT - Dynamically blending transparency and active noise cancellation modes

01:59PM EDT - Distracting noises are reduced. Useful noises are not

01:59PM EDT - (So you can literally have selective hearing)

02:00PM EDT - Adaptive Audio will supress noise when you're on a call as well

02:00PM EDT - Also improving the automatic switching experience between Apple devices

02:01PM EDT - AirPlay updates as well

02:02PM EDT - AirPlay is coming to hotels

02:02PM EDT - And SharePlay is coming to cars

02:02PM EDT - Lets all the passengers control the sound system

02:03PM EDT - A few words on tvOS 17 as well

02:03PM EDT - The control center has been redesigned

02:03PM EDT - Memories is now available as a screensaver

02:03PM EDT - And Facetime is coming to Apple TV

02:04PM EDT - Uses Apple's Continuity Camera functionality. Using the camera on an iPhone or iPad

02:04PM EDT - With Continuity to provide framing

02:05PM EDT - And devs will get access to the Continuity Camera APIs, allowing other video conferencing apps to access the functionality

02:05PM EDT - Now on to watchOS

02:06PM EDT - watchOS 10

02:06PM EDT - Rolling a video

02:07PM EDT - Can reveal widgets from any home screen using the crown to bring up a stack of widgets

02:08PM EDT - Long press to add a widget to the stack

02:08PM EDT - Redesigned apps across watchOS 10

02:09PM EDT - World Clock, the Activity app, and more

02:11PM EDT - New Apple Watch features aimed at cyclists

02:11PM EDT - Apple Watch can now connect to BT-enabled bike sensors

02:12PM EDT - Apple Watch can use this to estimate power output

02:13PM EDT - Compass and Maps being updated for hiking usage as well

02:13PM EDT - Keeps track of the last place you has cellular connectivity, plots it as a waypoint

02:13PM EDT - New topographic map for Maps in the US

02:14PM EDT - And new workout APIs for developers

02:15PM EDT - And some new health-related features for Apple Watch, as well

02:16PM EDT - Mindfulness app

02:16PM EDT - Log your feelings

02:16PM EDT - And the iPhone/iPad Health apps get the same functionality

02:17PM EDT - Standardized health assessments within the Health app

02:17PM EDT - (Mental health assessments)

02:17PM EDT - Vision health tools as well

02:18PM EDT - Now Apple Watch can measure how much time is spent in the daylight

02:19PM EDT - This is being pitched as a tool for using with kids and making sure they get enough outside time

02:19PM EDT - And screen distance reminders

02:19PM EDT - Underscoring the on-device storage and encryption of Health data

02:20PM EDT - And that's watchOS

02:20PM EDT - And that's Apple's slate of hardware and software updates

02:21PM EDT - All in 80 minutes. That's fast for a WWDC keynote, albeit dense

02:21PM EDT - Developer beta OSes releases available today, and public betas next month

02:21PM EDT - With the final versions shipping to the public in the fall

02:21PM EDT - And back to Tim Cook

02:21PM EDT - For the obligatory one more thing

02:21PM EDT - Augmented reality

02:22PM EDT - Announcing an entirely new AR platform and a new product

02:22PM EDT - Rolling a video

02:22PM EDT - An Apple AR headset

02:23PM EDT - Apple Vision Pro

02:23PM EDT - "Seemlessly blending the real world with the digital word"

02:23PM EDT - Emphasizing looking through Vision Pro, and not at it

02:23PM EDT - Eye and hand tracking. As well as voice controls

02:24PM EDT - Cabled headset?

02:24PM EDT - Tim is running through the use cases for AR and content consumption

02:24PM EDT - "Apple Vision Pro will introduce us to spatial computing"

02:25PM EDT - Designed a fully three-dimensional interface

02:25PM EDT - Home view is the base interface

02:26PM EDT - Apps wrap around to the sides when switching between them

02:27PM EDT - And environments, for swtiching from AR to a more VR-like experience

02:27PM EDT - Environments are volumetic

02:27PM EDT - Controls are eyes, hands, and voice

02:28PM EDT - Tapping fingers together to select something, and flick to scroll

02:28PM EDT - Siri support to drive those voice commands

02:29PM EDT - A user's eyes are visible from outside of the headset

02:29PM EDT - Apple calls it EyeSight

02:29PM EDT - (Sounds like this is an OLED screen, rather than actually seeing through the headset)

02:30PM EDT - Lets users see if someone is approaching them - and the approacher know once they've been seen

02:30PM EDT - (The home view reminds me of the Sony PS Vita Live Area home screen)

02:32PM EDT - Virtual keyboard for typing

02:32PM EDT - Works with popular Bluetooth accessories like the Magic Keyboard

02:33PM EDT - 4K display?

02:33PM EDT - Can project the screen from a Mac into Apple Vision Pro

02:34PM EDT - Facetime support

02:34PM EDT - Though it sounds like they can't see you, since there's not a camera in a suitable location

02:35PM EDT - At this point Apple is talking less about technical features, and more about use cases

02:36PM EDT - Which makes sense. It's a new product category for them, so they need to sell potential customers on the usefulness of the product

02:36PM EDT - Which is often "things you like to do, but better"

02:36PM EDT - The headset features a 3D camera setup and can record/playback 3D videos

02:37PM EDT - Apple calls them spatial videos

02:37PM EDT - Spatial cinema mode for watching video content

02:38PM EDT - Content from Apple TV+ and other content services will be available on Apple Vision Pro

02:39PM EDT - And there will be formal support for 3D movies

02:39PM EDT - Apple Arcade games can only be used on the headset. Though they're a 2D application from the looks of it

02:40PM EDT - Tim is bringing out Disney's CEO, Bob Iger

02:41PM EDT - "We believe Apple Vision Pro is a revolutionary platform"

02:42PM EDT - Now rolling a sneek peak video of content and expereinces Disney has been development for the headset

02:44PM EDT - Disney+ will be available on Day One

02:44PM EDT - And now on to the design of the headset itself

02:45PM EDT - Apple Vision Pro is the culmination of decades of experience

02:45PM EDT - Entire front of the headset is a single piece of deformed and laminated glass

02:45PM EDT - Extremely lightweight frame

02:45PM EDT - There'a button on one side, and a digital crown on the other side

02:46PM EDT - Actively cooled thermal design. There's a processor in the headset, and no doubt the screen itself would like some cooling

02:47PM EDT - Audio pods built into the headset band

02:47PM EDT - Fabric band with an adjustment dial

02:47PM EDT - For users who need glasses, created custom optical inserts that magnetically attach to the display

02:47PM EDT - The battery is external

02:48PM EDT - Which is the cable we've seen earlier

02:48PM EDT - The battery is designed to be pocketed, tethered via the cable rather than weighing down on the head

02:48PM EDT - Now for more on the tech

02:49PM EDT - micro-OLED silicon backplane

02:49PM EDT - 23M pixels across 2 panels

02:49PM EDT - 64x the density of an iPhone display

02:49PM EDT - 3 element lens

02:49PM EDT - Looks like a pancake lens setup

02:50PM EDT - "Fine text looks super-sharp from any angle"

02:50PM EDT - The display is RGB, but not RGB stripe

02:51PM EDT - Using audio raytracing for sound

02:51PM EDT - Lidar, TrueDepth, hand tracking cameras, and more

02:51PM EDT - Internal IR cameras for eye tracking as well (doing foveated rendering, I'm sure)

02:51PM EDT - Dual chip processor setup

02:52PM EDT - The first chip is an Apple M2 SoC

02:52PM EDT - The second chip is a new chip: R1

02:52PM EDT - A dedicated sensor input and fusion processor

02:52PM EDT - "R1 virtually eliminates lag"

02:52PM EDT - Gets new images to the display within 12ms

02:53PM EDT - Confirmed that EyeSight is using an external, curved OLED panel to fake transparency

02:54PM EDT - For FaceTime, Apple recreates and renders the user's face, since an actual camera isn't possible

02:54PM EDT - (It looks fairly fake, but not uncanny)

02:54PM EDT - The OS: visionOS

02:54PM EDT - Foveated rendering confirmed

02:54PM EDT - Multi-app 3D engine

02:55PM EDT - "First OS designed from the ground up for spatial computing"

02:55PM EDT - And since this is WWDC, what does this mean for developers?

02:56PM EDT - Showing off some apps that developers given early access have put together

02:57PM EDT - Microsoft app support. Excel, Word, Teams

02:57PM EDT - Reality Composer Pro, for assembling scenes with realistic objects

02:57PM EDT - iPhone and iPad apps will run on the headset

02:58PM EDT - Apple has been working with Unity to get the engine and apps based on it on the headset

02:58PM EDT - Vision Pro will have a new App Store

02:58PM EDT - More info for developers this afternoon with the Platform State of the Union

02:59PM EDT - Now recapping privacy and security

02:59PM EDT - User authentication through a new system, Optic ID

03:00PM EDT - Based on retinal iris scans

03:00PM EDT - Password auto fill and other major features available

03:00PM EDT - Eye input is isolated to a separate background process. Apps and websites cannot tell where is a user is looking. Only where they tap

03:01PM EDT - And that's Apple Vision Pro

03:01PM EDT - "The most advanced personal electronics device ever"

03:01PM EDT - Over 5,000 patents filed

03:02PM EDT - Starts at $3499

03:02PM EDT - Available "early next year"

03:03PM EDT - (So, not for at least more than another half a year)

03:03PM EDT - And now back to Tim

03:04PM EDT - (As a writer, I appreciate the vision puns)

03:04PM EDT - Tim believes this is something only Apple can deliver

03:04PM EDT - And now rolling an ad for Apple Vision Pro

03:07PM EDT - And that's a wrap for the WWDC keynote. Apple will have plenty more for developers throughout the week